Shore diving in Florida?

[DiveChick715]

Hi everyone!
My husband is getting transferred to Florida from Alaska. His job will be a traveling job, so we can move anywhere in the state we want to. I am AOW certified and the majority of my logged dives are shore dives, so that's what I'm most comfortable with. Where is the best shore diving in Florida? We were looking at the Ft. Myers area to move because of how inexpensive housing is, but it looks like all the good diving there is from boats. We will not be able to make many boat dives due to the cost, so for the moment, we are more interested in shore diving and great snorkeling sights. We are from Alaska and have never even been to Florida on vacation, so we have no idea what to expect. We would love to be in the Keys (where I hear the diving is exceptional) but need a little bit cheaper cost of living. We know we want to be on the coast though. What are the pros and cons of the Gulf Coast vs. East Coast? Northern Florida vs. southern? I am just beginning to do research on the areas and would love some feedback. Thanks everyone

 

[grantwiscour]

There are lots of good shore dive sites in Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach. All of our FLKeys diving has been off a boat. In the entertainment.com coupon book for Miami/FL Keys there are usually 4-5 buy one get one free coupons for dive trips. Priceline is another good route to save money on hotels. FLL can be pretty cheap for hotels the Key Largo usually costs me $75-100 per night.

 

[MrChen]

Blue heron bridge in west palm is a safe shore dive.

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[Scuba_Jenny]

Whew.. Shore diving is the best with a Broward County base.. think Ft. Lauderdale area. Everywhere else is either minimal or no shore diving. Biggest thing you will have to account for is culture shock... and the further south the more shocking! LOL

 

[SeaHawk12]

The problem lies in where the reef structure lies. Along the Gulf, most of the structure if WAY offshore, making shore diving limited. The same problem occurs in the keys, where the reef line is typically 3-5 miles offshore. In Fort Lauderdale, and Broward county in general, the reef hump and first reef line are available within easy swimming distance from the shore. This makes for easy, tropical, and diverse shore dives.

 

[Fishspearit]

As you're seeing from the other posts, there is not a lot of shore diving in Florida. What there is lies on the East coast from Ft. Pierce to the North down to Ft. Lauderdale. There is also a lot of freshwater spring diving, mostly in North Central Florida. It adds to the cost, but you will be missing out on most of the great diving by limiting yourself to the shoreline, you need to get comfortable boat diving. East coast will always be shorter boat rides than the gulf coast, as long as you stay on the southern half of the state. Jupiter and south are where the best diving is located, that's also where the costs of living go up significantly.

 

[sportxlh]

here's a good site for shore diving...... Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Florida, USA East

If I could pick anywhere to live and shore diving was my main determining factor, I'd pick Lauderdale by the Sea. Pompano would be a close second. Both these areas have really easy, but beautiful shore diving. Housing costs are not terrible compared to some other areas of south Florida, if you want to be in a condo near the beach in a nice neighborhood. Boat diving is also good in the area, plus its only 75 minutes to Jupiter for diving with sharks, goliath grouper and turtles and a couple of hours to the Keys. WPB, Boynton have great boat diving (and WPB also has a wonderful macro life shore dive under the Blue Heron Bridge) and nearby Hollywood has some good shore diving too (SeaTech ledges, EroJacks, etc.). So, you'd have great local diving and within 2 hours, more great diving if you get tired of the local shore/boat dives.

 

[SavageRon]

Follow the above comments for easy to see sights, but there are other things to dive for.
Perhaps you don't like visibility too much, and would feel out of place if you weren't running a buddy-line to keep track of your significant other at 2-6 feet. (ok, that's a slight exaggeration most of the time. You can usually see a diver as shadow at 6 feet, but I have had vis as good as 12-15 feet once)
You can swim out for miles and still be on a sand bar in less than 30 feet of water, but there are some of us who actually enjoy diving Venice FL for sharks teeth. If you're looking to shore dive anywhere near Ft Myers that's where you'll spend most of your shore dive time.

Without an addiction to Megalodon teeth and having employment option meaning anywhere, I would stick to the East, and follow some of the other posters recommendations.

 

[sheeper]

shore diving up here in Vero Beach can be really fun...when weather and conditions permit. In some areas our reef starts 50-100 feet from shore and are frequented by turtles, nurse sharks and lots of fish. Viz on a good day easily tops 30' with average depths of less than 20'. Water temps will be in the high 70s and low 80s for the summer. great spearfishing too. On a bad day...like last weekend I had 2-3 feet of murky hazy viz. Check with Vero Beach Scuba Club on Facebook or their website for local dive buddies and/or updates.

 

[iamrushman]

as mentioned above......ft lauderdale / lauderdale by the sea / pompano has great beach diving.......